Life's A Rollar Coaster
by Misiu
Summary: AU. The new Abernathy Show is auditioning for their 2 leading child stars, and Katniss thinks Prim will be perfect for the part of the girl, (opposite the famous Peeta Mellark) and save their lives in the process. They lost their parents at a young age and they don't have a lot of options left when the bank comes to take away their home and family business. rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The new Abernathy Show is auditioning for their 2 leading child stars, and Katniss thinks Prim will be perfect for the part (opposite the famous Peeta Mellark) and save their lives in the process. They lost their parents at a young age and hey don't have a lot of options left.

Ok,so, hard to categorize this one or write a summary without giving too much away lol...this will be split into two stories. When this one ends I will be posting the second shorty after. Both are outlined already as well so I know exactly where this is headed. I dont have a beta so, sorry about mistakes, they are all mine. I tried to have one on another story and never had luck with turn around time on them so I always posted them messed up anyway. (If you have ever read the book where i got the story idea from, you will know exactly where this is headed, please dont ruin it for others though! And i'll tell you the book name at the end, because I don't want anyone going to read the book and getting spoilers because it follows the book pretty closely)

CH 1.

Katniss stared out the window of the bedroom in the small 2 bedroom trailer as all the lights in the park start to shut off. It was an hour past closing time and there was nothing to do on a monday night around here.

A burst of laughter sounded from the next room as the _Caesar Flickerman Show _audience responded to one of Ceaser's jokes about peanuts and President Snow . Aunt Sophie always had the television on. She said it kept her from missing Uncle Earl's voice. Earl had died a year and a half ago, leaving Sophie the owner of the Panams Dist. 12 Amusement Park. She hadn't exactly been a ball of fire when he was alive, but it was even worse now that he was dead, and Katniss was pretty much in charge of things.

As she drew back from the window, she knew it wouldn't be much longer before Sophie fell asleep. She never lasted much past midnight even though she hardly ever got out of bed before noon. Katniss propped herself up against the pillow of the bed she shared with Prim. The trailer was hot and airless. Despite the fact that she was wearing only an orange Panam Uni T-shirt and a pair of thin shorts, she couldn't get comfortable. They used to have a window air conditioner, but it had broken down two summers ago just like everything else, and they couldn't afford to replace it.

Katniss glanced at the clock on the crate next to her bed. It was 10pm and Prim was still out. She had a sinking suspicion at to why and she was not happy about slipped her feet off the bed and into a pair of old flip flops that had long since conformed to the shape of her foot, before heading out of the bedroom and towards the front door.

As she passed her aunt, who had fallen asleep on the old recliner in the living room once again, she sighed. Her aunt should be the one wondering where the 14 year old girl in her care was at 10pm. Her aunt should be the one worried about how they were going to pay the bills that had been piling up for a year. But she knew that getting mad at Sophie wouldn't do her any good, just as getting mad at her mother hadn't got her anywhere all those years ago.

"I'm going out for a bit."

Sophie snorted in her sleep.

The air was heavy with humidity. As she passed beneath a series of weathered Southern yellow-pine support columns, she shoved her hands in the pockets of her shorts and told herself that this time she would keep going. This time she wouldn't stop and look. Looking made her think, and thinking made her feel like she was being swallowed into a black hole. She moved doggedly ahead for another minute, but then she stopped anyway. Turning back the way she had come, she craned her neck and let her gaze move along the length of the tallest ride in the park. The roller coaster's massive frame stood unmoving in the dark. Her eyes traveled up the steep incline of the lift hill and down that heart-stopping sixty-degree drop. She traced the slopes of the next two hills with their chilling dips all the way to the final spiral that twisted down in a nightmare whirlpool over Panam Lake itself. Her heart ached with an awful combination of yearning and bitterness as she took in the three hills and the steeply banked death spiral. Everything had begun to go wrong for them the summer the roller coaster had stopped running.

The quiet night and the smell of burnt popcorn brought back a faded memory,. She was a small girl curled in a ball in the corner of the trailer,. scabby knees drawn up to her chin. An angry voice echoed in her mind.

"Get her out of here, Sophie! Goddamnit, she's givin' me the spook's! She's hardly moved since you brought them here last night. All she's done is sit in that corner and stare." She heard the crash of her uncle's fist on the kitchen table.

"Where am I going to put her, Earl?" Sophie sighed. She was tired of the little girl already. The other one was quiet and stayed out of the way.

"I don't give a shit where you put her. It's not my fault your sister went and killed herself. Those welfare people had no right to make you go get them. I want to eat my lunch in goddamn peace without her spookin' me!"

Sophie came over to the corner of the trailer's living area and kicked her foot. Katniss whimpered once again.

"You stop actin' like that, go on outside and find Prim. You haven't seen the park yet. You two can go explore" Only a few years later would Katniss realize a 4 and 6 year old had no right wondering an amusement park alone.

"Goddamnit! Get her out of here, Sophie!"

"Now see what you've done." Sophie sighed again. "You got your Uncle Earl all mad." She grasped her arm and marched her outside the trailer. "Come on. Let's go get you some cotton candy."

Walking out of the trailer and through a gate, Katniss dragged behind her aunt. She didn't want cotton candy. Sophie'd made her eat some cereal that morning, and she'd thrown up. Sophie dropped her arm when they crossed the gate.

"I want my mama." Katniss whispered as they walked towards the nearest vendor.

"Your mama's dead. She's not—" The rest of Sophie's reply was drowned out as a roar skid past their heads. Katniss screamed.

All the fear she had held inside, to be a good role model for little Prim, had finally snapped in her. Again and again she screamed. She had a vague idea what a roller coaster was, but she had never ridden one, never seen one this size, and it didn't occur to her to connect the sound with the ride. She heard only a monster, the monster that hides in the closet and skulks under the bed and carries off little girls' mothers in fearsome fiery jaws. The screams fell from her mouth . After being nearly catatonic for the six days since her mother had died, she couldn't stop, not even when Sophie began to shake her arm.

"Quit that! Quit that screamin', you hear?"

But Katniss couldn't quit. Instead, she fought against her aunt until she broke free. Then she began running beneath the tracks, running from the pain and the fear. When she got to an area on the track too low for her to go under, she grabbed onto the wooden post of the thing that scared her so much. She never noticed the splinters digging into her palms as she screamed, trying to drown out the sound of the monster above her.

"Goddamnit, stop that noise!" While Sophie stood helplessly watching, Uncle Earl came up behind them and dragged her off the post with a jolt.

"What's wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with her now?" "

I don't know," Sophie whined. "She started doin' that when she heard the coaster. I think she's afraid of it."

"Well, that's just too goddamn bad. We're not coddling her, goddamnit." He snatched Katniss up by the waist and pulled her out from beneath the coaster. Walking with great loping strides, he carried her through the crowd of people waiting to board the coaster. A train sat empty, ready for its next group of passengers. Ignoring the protests of the people waiting in line, he pushed her beneath the lap bar in the first car. Her screams continued. She struggled to get out, but her uncle held her down.

"Earl, whatcha doin'?" Chester, the old man who ran the ride rushed up to him.

"She's goin' on a ride."

"She's too little, Earl. You know she's not tall enough for this coaster." "

"That's too damn bad. Strap her in. And no goddamn brakes." "

"But, Earl. . ."

"Do what I say, or pick up your paycheck." She was barely aware of the loud objections of several of the adults waiting in line, but then the train began to move, and she realized that she was being delivered into the very stomach of the beast that had taken her mother. Her mind ran.

"No!" she screamed. "No! _Mama!_" Her fingers barely met at the tips as she grabbed the lap bar in a death grip. Sobs ripped through her. "Mama . . . Mama . . ." The ride creaked and groaned as the train crawled up the great lift hill . It moved with such slowness, giving her child's mind time to conjure visions of terror. She was six years old and alone in the universe with the monster of death taking her away.

She wasn't big enough, strong enough, old enough to protect herself, or Prim, and there was no adult left on earth who would do it for her. Fear gripped her and her tiny heart throbbed in her chest as the car reached the top of the great lift hill. Her last scream echoed from her throat as the car cleared the top, and she had one glimpse of the terrifying scene ahead of her before she was thrown into the deepest part of her nightmares….only to….Rise again.

And then back into hell…..And rise again. She was plunged down and back up again three more times before she was sent into a spiral. She slammed into the side of the car, only to level out at the last second,and be shot back to higher ground. The coaster slowed as it reached the station and the end of the ride. She was no longer crying. The cars came to a stop. Her Uncle Earl had disappeared, but Chester, the ride operator, rushed up to lift her out. She shook her head, her eyes still wide, her tiny face white as a ghost.

"Again," she whispered.

She was too young to understand the feelings the coaster had given her. She knew only that she had to experience them again—the sense that there was a force greater than herself, a force that could punish but would also rescue. The sense that somehow that force had allowed her to touch her mother. A force that for the first time in what felt like an eternity, gave her hope.


	2. Chapter 2

ch. 2

This gives us a little more on Prim and some more on the situation they have found themselves in. It's kind of a filler I guess. Next chapter we'll meet some key characters and get to the auditions for the Abernathy Show! So, and here's the thing with this one part though, google what Jennifer Lawrence looked like when she was actually 16, she looked like she was maybe 12, so, you have to keep in mind here.

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A sound coming from inside the arcade jolted Katniss back to the present. She reprimanded herself for getting distracted from her purpose. Walking forward, she stuck her head into the arcade.

"Hey, Gale, have you seen Prim?" Gale Hawthorne looked up from the pinball machine he was trying to fix. She had told him that if he didn't get at least a few of the machines running she was going to kick his ass out of the park.

"Prim who?" He laughed at his own wit. She always joked and threatened to fire him on the spot when he made stupid jokes, but she had lost too many men already because she couldn't always meet her payroll on time, and she knew she couldn't afford to lose another. Besides, Gale had been her best friend since she had moved here and was helping to feed his own younger siblings just as she was doing with Prim.

"You're a real joker, aren't you, Gale? Has Prim been around at all recently?"

"No, sorry Katniss. It's just been me and Rory, and he disappeared himself about an hour ago." With that knowledge, Katniss's fears on Prim's whereabouts were all but confirmed in her mind.

"Well, let's see if one of you can get a couple of those damned machines working before morning." With a tired look, she left the arcade and continued to the end of the main strip. The Bullpen, a run-down wooden building where the unmarried male employees bunked, sat in the trees behind the picnic grove. Only Gale and two others lived there now. One was his younger brother Rory. She could see yellow light seeping from the windows, but she didn't go closer because she couldn't imagine Prim sneaking around somewhere so obvious. It was most likely just a light left on by accident. She headed to the place she had caught Prim at a few weeks ago with a sigh. The stupid tunnel of love.

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The bottoms of her feet stung as she landed hard on the deck just in the entrance of the ride. She clutched a piece of the railing to balance herself and then ran toward the staircase. It descended and then rose up from the murky water. Even in the darkness, she could see the white belly of a dead fish floating near the submerged stair treads. This ride was closed down a few months ago but Katniss hadn't been able to find anyone willing to buy the the working parts yet. Throwing her leg over the peeling wooden railing, she raced up the section of staircase that still rose above the surface of the water to the operation room.

A man and woman were sprawled near its door, their bodies intertwined. They were too caught up in each other to hear the noise of Katniss's approach.

"Let her go, you pervert!" Katniss shouted as she reached the top. The figures sprang apart. A bat flew out from the broken window above them.

"Katniss!" Prim exclaimed. Her blouse was open, and her white bra almost glowed in the midnight darkness. The young man she was with sprang to his feet, jerking up the zipper of the cutoffs he wore. For a moment he looked dazed and disoriented, and then he took in Katniss's stringy hair, tiny stature, and the hostile scowl that made her look more like an ill-tempered ten-year-old boy than a young girl.

"You go on, y'hear?" he said belligerently. "Y'all got no business here." Prim rose from the floor and lifted her hand to close the front of her blouse. Katniss wasn't sure if she should be happy or even angrier that the boy with her wasn't Rory Hawthorne.

The boy draped his arm around her shoulders. The familiar way he embraced Prim, as if she belonged to him instead of to Katniss, ignited her already simmering temper. Prim was hers, along with Aunt Sophie and the ruins of the Amusement Park! Using her index finger as a weapon, she pointed down to the floor by her side.

"You get over here, Primrose Everdeen! I mean it. You get over here right now." Prim stared at her sandals for a moment and then took a reluctant step forward. The college looking boy grabbed her arm.

"Wait a minute. Who is she? What's she doin' here, Prim?"

"My sister, Katniss." Prim replied. "She runs things, I guess." Once again Katniss punched her finger toward the floor.

"You bet I run things. Now you get over here this minute." Prim attempted to move forward, but the boy wouldn't release her. He curled his other hand over her arm.

"Aw, she's just a kid. You don't have to listen to her." He gestured toward the stairs. "You go on back where you came from, little girl." Katniss's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Listen to me, college boy. If you know what's good for you, you'll pack that undersized dick of yours right back in your dirty underwear and get out of here before you make me mad." He shook his head incredulously.

"I think I might just throw you right over the side of one of those boats, baby face, and let the fish eat you."

"I wouldn't try it." Katniss took a threatening step, her small chin jutted forward. She despised it when people made fun of the way she looked. "Maybe I better tell you that I got out of reform school just last week for knifing a man who was a lot bigger than you are. They would have given me the electric chair, but I was underage."

"Is that so? Well, I don't happen to believe you." Prim sighed. "Katniss, you gonna tell Sophie?" Katniss ignored her and concentrated on the boy. "How old did Prim tell you she was?"

"None of your beeswax."

"Did she tell you she was eighteen?" He glanced at Prim, and for the first time he looked uncertain.

"I might of known," Katniss said with disgust. "That girl's only fourteen ears old. Didn't they teach you anything about statutory rape at the fancy college you go to? "

The boy released Prim as if she were radioactive. "Is that true, Prim? You dress like you could be 18 kinda. Maybe we better call it a night. " He was right, Prim was wearing too short shorts and an old tight blouse she had outgrown years ago over her push up bra. He sauntered toward the staircase. "I had a real good time. Maybe I'll see you again sometime, all right?"

"Sure, Coby. I'd like that." He fled down the stairs. They could hear the spring of the plywood plank and then a thump as he landed on the dock. Both girls watched him disappear into the pine woods outside the ride. Prim sighed, eased down onto the floor, and leaned back against the nearest wall.

"Why'd you go and tell him I was only fourteen? He was really hot Kat."

"I didn't want to have to fight him."

"Katniss, you weren't gonna fight him. You didn't even come up to his chin. "

"I might have fought him." It was taking a lot for Katniss not to go off on her little sister as she tried to take a few calming breaths.

"And all that stuff about reform school and knifing a man. Nobody believes you."

"Some do." Katniss shrugged and closed her eyes a moment.

"I don't think it's good to tell so many lies." She snorted at Prims comment.

"It goes along with being a woman in the business world. Otherwise people take advantage of you. Besides, you just lied to that pervert about how old you were apparently. How is that any different?"

Prim's legs stretched bare and shapely from beneath her white shorts as she crossed her ankles. Kaniss studied her sister's sandaled feet and polished toenails. She considered Prim the prettiest person she'd ever seen. It was hard to believe they were sisters with how different their looks were. Katniss with darker skin and dark hair, Prim with ivory skin and dirty blond hair. Prim stared at the wall across form her before answering.

" He said I was pretty. I don't want to be here forever Katniss. I want to meat a nice guy and fall in love and ride off into the sunset. A guy who goes to college and gets a decent job. A smart guy Katniss."

"Smart guys don't pick up girls at amusement parks Prim. And smart guys like to marry virgins." She would say anything to keep her sister innocent as long as possible.

"I'm still a virgin." Prim mumbled.

"Thanks to me."

"I wasn't gonna let him go all the way." Katniss sighed again at her sister's innocence of men. "You gonna tell Sophie?"

"A lot of good that'd do. She'd just change the channel and go back to sleep. This is the third time I've caught you with one of those college boys. They come sniffin' around you just like you're sending out some kind of radio signal or something. "

There was no talking to Prim though. She was sweet, but she was raised around so many people with all the wrong ideas about love and marriage that Katniss had a hard time getting through to her. At least Prim was making it through high school, which was more than Katniss had been able to do. As soon as summer his she had dropped out. Katniss hadn't quit school because she was dumb though—she was an avid reader and she'd always been smart as a whip. She'd quit because she had better things to do than spend her time with a bunch of ignorant girls who told everybody she was a lesbian just because they were afraid of her. The memory still made her feel like crawling away somewhere and hiding. Katniss wasn't pretty like the other girls. She didn't wear cute clothes or have a bubbly personality, but that didn't mean she was a lesbian. She also had a business to run or they weren't going to make it through the summer.

"Do you ever think about mama?" Prim spoke up out of no where.

"Not so much anymore." Katniss picked at a piece of splintered wood on the floor. "But since you brought up the subject, it wouldn't do you any harm to think about what happened to mama when she wasn't much older than you. She let a college boy come sniffin' around her, and it ruined her life. She had me too young and had to drop out of school. She was miserable till she met daddy." There was a reason Katniss and her sister were so different in looks. Katniss met Prim's father when she was two years old and had fallen in love with him as fast as her mother had. He was an amazing father who loved both his girls the same, despite one not being his by blood.

"I don't follow you. If mama hadn't slept with that college boy, you wouldn't of been born. Then where would you be?"

"That's not the point. The point is—college boys only want one thing from girls like you and mama. They only want sex. And after they get it, they disappear. Do you want to end up all by yourself with a baby to take care of and nothing except the welfare system to support you?"

"Coby said I was prettier than any of the sorority girls he knows."

Banging her head against the wall behind her, Katniss decided enogh was enough for the night.

"Come on Prim. Let's get home and to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." They both stood and walked to the stairs.

"What's tomorrow again Katniss?"

"Tomorrow, you audition for the Abernathy Show." Katniss could only cross her fingers and hope that maybe just this once, whatever higher power that looked over them would cut them a break.

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And that's it for ch 2. A filler for the most part and some back info to let you know what kind of life they have led so far. OOC and AU guys. Next chapter though, the story really starts and we get going!


	3. Chapter 3

Audition Day! And well get to see Peeta for the first time. I'm almost done with the next chapter so it should be poste in the next few hours. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for the follows and reviews guys!

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"I think you have finally lost what's left of your mind, Katniss Everdeen." Prim said with a yawn. It was 5am. With an 11 hour drive ahead of them to the Capital, they had to start as early as possible and pray nothing delayed them on the way. "That truck couldn't make it to the district line, let alone all the way to the Capital."

The battered old pickup that stood near Sophie's trailer was the only vehicle left in the park. The body had once been red, but it had been patched with gray putty so many times that little of its original paint job remained. Because Katniss was worried about exactly the same thing, she turned on Prim.

"You're never gonna get anywhere in life if you keep being such a negative thinker. You've got to have a positive attitude toward the challenges life throws at you. Besides, Gale just put in a new alternator. Now load that suitcase in the back while I try one more time to talk to Sophie."

"But Katniss, I don't want to go to the Capital." Katniss ignored the whine in her sister's voice. It had been an ongoing argument since she told the younger girl about the auditions.

"That's just too bad, 'cause you're going. Get in that truck and wait for me."

Sophie was lying on the couch after falling asleep watching her television shows the night before. Katniss knelt on the floor and touched her aunt's hand, running a gentle finger over the swollen knuckles. She watched her aunts eyes flicker open unfocused.

"Sophie, you've got to change your mind and come with us. I don't want to leave you here by yourself. Besides, when those TV people offer Prim that part on The Abernathy Show, they're gonna want to talk to her quardian." Sophie's eyes remained on the flickering screen.

"I'm afraid I'm too tired to go anywhere. Besides, Cinnamon and Shade are getting married this week." Katniss could barely contain her frustration. Sophie was addicted to her stupid shows.

"This is real life, Sophie, not a soap opera. We have to make plans for our future. The bank owns the park now, and you're not going to be able to go on living here much longer

"The bank didn't say anything about me moving out, so I think I'll just stay right where I am." She attempted one final plea.

"We need you, Sophie. You know how Prim has been. What if some boy tries to get cozy with her in the Capital?"

"You'll take care of him," Sophie said wearily. "You'll take care of everything. You always do."

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Katniss didn't want to tell Gale about their trip to the Capital. He was over protective and would demand to be allowed to go with, and quite frankly he was of better use to her at the park taking care of things. Instead, against her better judgment mind you, she decided to invite Rory Hawthorn along. He really was a good kid, only a few months younger then Katniss was. She just had to make sure that him and Prim were never alone long enough to get into trouble.

They had been on the road since 5am, but they hadn't even made it halfway when Katniss felt her eyes start to droop. They'd lost the muffler near District 10, sprung a leak in a water hose just past 4, and had the same tire patched twice. Katniss didn't believe in negative thinking, but her emergency cash supply was dwindling more rapidly than she had imagined it could, and she knew she couldn't drive much longer without sleep. She pulled off to the side of the road and turned to Rory.

"Did you ever drive a pickup?"

"Sure. Tractors, too. My family is all farmers Kat, you know that." She knew Gale could handle driving fine, she had just never seen proof that Rory could.

Katniss climbed in on the passenger side, putting Prim in the middle. Rory worked the truck into gear and chugged out onto the highway. She was asleep within seconds.

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Several hours later something woke her up, and when she saw the way Rory and Prim were making eyes at each other, she realized that she had made a big mistake.

"You sure are pretty," Rory said, his skin taking on a rosy flush beneath his tan as he gazed over at Prim. Her elbow was propped up on the back of the seat and she was leaning toward him.

"I admire a man with a mustache."

"You do? I was thinking about shaving it off."

"Oh, no, don't. It makes you look just like a movie star type from the Capital with it." Katniss's eyelids sprang the rest of the way open.

"Thought you weren't a fan of Capital boys Prim?" She took in her surroundings as they passed a few signs. There were only 90 miles away from their destination.

"Don't mind her Rory. You know how she gets." Prim batted her eyes at him.

She wasn't anxious to take over the driving again, but she couldn't stand watching the two of them drooling over each other so she pulled out the papers that she had printed off for the auditions last time she was at the library. They contained directions to the studio, as well as a short summary of _The Abernathy Show_. She studied it.

Rollicking laugh-a-minute humor results as ex-rodeo rider Mitch Abernathy (Haymitch Abernathy) marries beautiful East Capital socialite Eliza Castle (Effie Trinket) and they discover that love is funnier the second time around. He has a yen for country life, while she favors fancy cocktail parties. To complicate matters, his beautiful teenage daughter Celeste (to be cast) and Eliza's almost-grown son Blake, (Peeta Mellark) form an attraction for each other. All of them discover that love is funnier the second time around.

Katniss found herself wondering who wrote stuff like "rollicking laugh-a-minute humor." _The Abernathy Show _didn't sound all that funny to her, but since she couldn't afford to be critical, she told herself that Haymitch Abernathy wouldn't be part of something that was garbage.

She had never been enamored of movie stars or pretty men, not like Prim, but she had always cherished a secret admiration for Haymitch Abernathy. Ever since she was a kid, she had watched his movies. Now that she thought about it, however, she realized it had been a long time since he'd made a new one. Cowboy movies didn't seem to be too popular anymore. A sliver of excitement crept through her. She wasn't one to be impressed by movie stars, but wouldn't it be something if she actually got the chance to meet Haymitch Abernathy when she went to the Capital?

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Katniss shoved Prims's best sundress through the partially opened door of the gas station's rest room. "Hurry up, Prim. It's almost six o'clock. The auditions started two hours ago."

Katniss's old faded T-shirt was stuck to her chest with nervous sweat. She rubbed her damp palms on her shorts and nervously watched the traffic go by.

"Prim, hurry up!" Her stomach was pumping bile. What if the auditions were already over? The truck had broken down on the entrance freeway, and then Prim and Rory had had a lover's quarrel right there on the shoulder of the road. Katniss had begun to feel as if she were stuck in one of those nightmares where she was trying to get someplace but couldn't make it.

"If you don't hurry up, Prim, we're going to miss the audition."

"I feel like I'm going to get sick." Prim whined from the other side of the door.

"I'm sure they've got rest rooms where we're going you can puke in...Prim, if you don't come out here right this minute ..." The door opened and she came through, looking as fresh and pretty in her white sundress as if she'd just stepped out of a magazine ad for Tide laundry detergent.

"You don't have to shout."

"I'm sorry. I'm just edgy."

Katniss grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the truck. Rory had followed Katniss's orders and kept the pickup running. Katniss pushed him out of the way and climbed behind the wheel herself. She peeled out of the parking lot and turned into the traffic, ignoring a light that was more red than yellow. She had never been in a city larger than District 12, and the noise and bustle of the Capitol was terrifying, but she didn't have time to give in to her fears. Another thirty minutes passed before she found the studio off one the cross streets. She had expected something glamorous, but the high concrete walls made the place look like a prison. More time passed before the guard finally cleared them and they were permitted to drive inside. Following the guard's instructions, Katniss drove down a narrow street, then turned left toward another building with concrete walls and a few small windows near the entrance. As she climbed out of the truck, she was sweating so bad she looked like she'd just gotten out of the shower.

She instructed Rory to wait with the pickup when they couldn't find a decent parking spot. Like her sister, Rory was starting to get into the habit of following her orders, and he agreed. The woman stationed inside the entrance told them that auditions were still going on, but that the last girl had already been called. For several terrifying moments, Katniss was afraid the woman would tell them they were too late, but instead she directed them to a shabby waiting room with gray walls, mismatched furniture, and a litter of discarded magazines and diet-soda cans left behind by its former occupants. As they walked into the empty room, Prim began to make a whimpery noise at her sister's side.

"I'm scared, Katniss. Let's go. I don't want to do this."

In desperation Katniss turned Prim toward a smudged mirror hanging on the wall. "Look at yourself, Primrose Everdeen. Half the movie stars in the Capital don't look as good as you. Now put your shoulders back and your chin up. Who knows? Peeta Mellark himself might walk through that door at any minute."

"But I can't do this, Katniss. I'm too scared."

" Now I don't want to hear another word, Prim. Our whole damn future is resting on what happens here today." The door opened behind her and a man's voice intruded on their privacy.

"Tell her that I need to see Ross, will you?" Katniss automatically readied herself to do battle with whatever new enemy might have appeared through that door. Setting her teeth, she spun around. And her heart dropped through a gaping hole in the bottom of her stomach. She had only been kidding when she said it to Prim. And here he was.

As he walked into the room, she felt as if she'd been hit by an eighteen-wheeler that had lost its brakes on a downhill curve. He was the handsomest young man she had ever seen: in his early twenties, tall and slender, light curling hair falling in disarray over his forehead. His nose and jaw were strong and sunbrowned just slightly, just as a man's should be. In that moment, as she gazed into the depths of his eyes that seemed to bum right through her skin, womanhood paid her an unwelcome visit. Her physical shortcomings gaped in her mind, her freckled little-boy's face, her stringy braided hair that hung limp to the side. Her shorts were smeared with carburetor grease, she had spilled Orange Pop on her T-shirt, and her old blue rubber flip-flops had a piece missing from the heel. She agonized over her lack of height, her lack of breasts, her lack of any single redeeming feminine attribute. He regarded Katniss and Prim a moment, not seeming to find it at all strange to be confronted with two speechless females. She tried and failed to manage the simple syllables of "hello." She waited for Prim to step in—Prim who was always so forward and friendly with everyone—but her sister had slipped behind her. When Prim finally did speak, she addressed herself to Katniss and not to the gorgeous stranger.

"It's Stevens Fairhaven, Katniss." she whispered, sliding even farther behind her sister. Katniss knew that already.

Hi, Mr. Fairhaven." Katniss finally managed, her voice not much more than a little girl's quiver, certainly nothing at all like the confident and loud voice but Katniss's insides still twisted like a piece of hand laundry. "My name is Peeta Mellark actually. Steven Fairhaven is the part I used to play on Destiny Wonders.

Katniss vaguely recalled that Destiny Wonders was one of Sophie's soap operas. She felt a pang as she saw the way he was gazing at her sister. But then what did she expect? Did she really think he would notice her when Prim was around? Dealing with people was something she knew Prim was good at, and Katniss couldn't understand why she kept hovering behind her instead of stepping forward and taking over the conversation like she usually did. She couldn't handle the silence and awkwardness anymore.

"I'm Katniss Everdeen. This is my sister Primrose Everdeen. We're from District 12, and we're here to get Prim a part on The Abernathy Show."

"Is that so?" His voice was deep-pitched and rich. He walked forward, ignoring Katniss as he took in every inch of Prim. "Hi there, Primrose Everdeen." He spoke in a soft, silky way that sent a shiver up Katniss's spine. She was shocked when Prim began pulling her toward the doorway.

"Come on, Katniss. We're gettin' out of here right now." Katniss tried to resist, but Prim was determined.

"What's wrong with you? We're not going anywhere."

"Yes, we are. I'm not doing this. We're leavin' right now." The waiting room door opened, and a frazzled-looking young woman with a clipboard appeared. When she saw Peeta Mellark, she looked momentarily stunned, and then she turned to Prim.

"We're ready to see you now, Primrose."

This new arrival was the last thing Prim wanted but her momentary rebellion stopped. She released Katniss's arm and her bottom lip began to quiver. "Please, don't make me do this." Katniss felt quilt in her chest but pushed it away.

"You have to. We don't have anything else left." A tear escaped her right eye before she could control it.

"But..." Peeta Mellark stepped forward and took Prims's arm.

"Come on, I'll go in with you." Prim's shoulders slumped in defeat as she let Peeta Mellark lead her from the waiting room. The door closed before Katniss could move an inch. She pressed the fiat of her hand over her heart to keep it from jumping right out of her chest. Their entire future was riding on what happened now, but she was completely disoriented from her meeting with Peeta. If only she were beautiful he might have noticed her. But who could blame him for ignoring an ugly little redneck girl who looked like a boy anyway.

HGHGHGHGHGH

Sooooo... time for auditions! Peeta came off a little weird, but, well get to know him more very soon. And well get to see more cast members in the next chapter. Hmm...wonder how Prim's audition will go?


	4. Chapter 4

Let's see how the audition went shall we….

also, sorry it took so long to post! The main story reallystarts here though! No more fillers!

CH 4

The door opened and Prim reappeared, this time alone.

"They said I wasn't the right type." Katniss blinked. Not even five minutes had passed.

They had driven all the way across the Panam and these people hadn't even spent five minutes with Prim. All of her dreams crumbled in a second. She thought of the carefully hoarded money she had spent to get here. She thought of her hopes, her plans. The world spun around her, dangerous and out of her control. She was losing her home; she had no way to keep their family together. And they hadn't even given Prim five minutes.

_"No!" _

She raced out through the door Prim had just came from and ran into the hallway. Nobody was going to push her around like this! Not after all she'd been through. Somebody was going to pay! Prim called out her name, but Katniss had spotted a set of metal doors with a glowing red light bulb above them at the end of the hallway, and her sister's voice sounded a thousand miles away. Her heart pumping, Katniss raced toward the doors. She shoved against them with all her strength and burst through into the studio.

"You sons of bitches!" A half dozen heads turned in her direction. They were gathered in the rear of the studio behind pieces of equipment, a blur of male and female faces. A few of them were standing, others sat on folding chairs around a table littered with coffee cups and fast-food containers. Peeta Mellark leaned against the walll, but not even his magnetism was a powerful enough force to make her forget the unfair act that had been done to her family. A women, tall and stern, shot up from her chair.

"Now just a minute, young lady," she said, heading towards Katniss."You have no business in here."

"My sister and me traveled all the way from the Seam of District 12, you rotten sons of bitches," Katniss shouted, pushing a folding chair out of the way to get to them. "We blew out three tires, used up most of our money, and you didn't even spend five minutes with her!"

"Call security." The woman tossed the command over her shoulder. Katniss urned her rage on the woman.

"Prim's pretty and she's sweet, and you treated her like she was a stinking pile of dog crap..." The woman snapped her fingers.

"Richard, get her out of here!"

"You think just because you're some big Capital hot shot, you can treat her like dirt. Well you're the one who's dirt, you hear me? You and all those ass's sitting over there." Several more people had risen to their feet. She turned on them, her eyes hot and burning, her throat clogged. "You're all going to burn in hell., and—"

"Richard!" The woman's voice screamed with the command. An overweight red-haired man with glasses had come forward, and now he grabbed Katnisss arm. "You're leaving."

"Like hell." Drawing back her foot, she kicked him hard in the shin, then sucked in her breath as pain shot hrough her foot. The man took advantage of her distraction to push her toward the door.

"This is a private meeting. You can't come barging in here like this." She struggled against him, trying to escape from the bite of his fingers. "

Let me go, you ignorant ass! I killed a man! I 've even killed three of them!"

"Did you call security?" This was a new voice, and it belonged to a man in a shirt and tie with silver hair and an air of authority.

"I called them, Snow." someone else replied.

"They're on their way." She was dragged past Peeta Mellark. He looked at her with sad eyes. The man named Richard almost had her to the door. He was soft and flabby and wouldn't have presented much of a challenge to anyone with reasonable strength. But she was so little. If only she were bigger, stronger, more of a _man! _Then she'd show him. She'd show them all! She punched him with her fists, screaming at all of them with every curse she knew. They were so smug and self-righteous, these rich people with families waiting for them at home, beds to sleep in at night.

"Let her go." The voice came from behind her. It was rough and tired, with a drawl that stretched from here to forever. The stern-faced woman sucked in her breath indignantly. "Not until she's out of here."

Again the tired voice spoke. "I said to let her go." The silver-haired man named Snow intervened. "I don't think that's wise."

"I don't care whether it's wise or not. Richard, get your hands off her." Miraculously, Katniss found herself free.

"Come here, sweetheart." that rough, tired voice said. She turned toward her rescuer. Creases like gullies bracketed his mouth, and a tan line from a hatband divided his forehead—pale skin above the line, sun-weathered skin below. He was lean and spare, and she didn't have to see him walk to know that he'd be a bit bowlegged like a cowboy. Her first thought was that he should be on a billboard somewhere with a Stetson on his head and a Marlboro stuck in his mouth, except his face was a little too beat-up for billboards. His short, wiry hair was a combination of dusty blond, brown, and auburn. He looked like he was in his early forties, but his eyes were a million years old.

"What's your name sweetheart?"

"Katniss...Katniss Everdeen." She waited for him to make a crack about her name, he stood quietly, not asking anything of her, just letting her take him in. She liked his clothes: an old denim work shirt, plain blue jean pants, boots, everything comfortable and well-worn.

"Do you feel like coming over here and talking to me a little bit?" he said after a while. "It'll give you a chance to catch your breath." She was starting to feel dizzy from yelling so much. Her stomach was upset, and her toes were hurting.

"I guess that'd be okay." As he led her toward a couple of chairs set up in front of some sort of light blue paper, she ignored the low conversation in the background.

"How about you sit right here, Katniss." he said. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna ask these fellas to turn the cameras on while you and me talk." The man named Ross stepped forward.

"I don't see any need for this." Katniss's rescuer just looked at Snow with a cold, hard stare.

"We've been doing it your way for weeks, Snow" he said in a hard voice. "I just ran out of patience." Katniss looked at the cameras suspiciously.

"Why do you want to turn those cameras on? Are you trying to get me in trouble with the police?" He chuckled. "The police would be more likely to come after me than you, little girl."

"Is that so? Why?"

"How about I ask the questions for a while?" He inclined his head toward the chair, not making her sit, but giving her a choice about it. She looked deeply into his eyes, but she couldn't see anything there that made her afraid, and so she sat. It was a wise decision, because her legs wouldn't have held her up much longer. "You mind telling me how old you are?" He'd hit her with a stumper right off the top. She studied him, trying to position herself by reading his intent, but his face was closed up tighter than a Ziploc bag. "

"Sixteen," she finally volunteered, somewhat to her surprise.

"You look like you're about twelve or thirteen."

"I look like a boy, too, when my hair is pulled all back, but I'm not."

"I don't think you look like a boy."

"You don't?"

"Nope. In fact, I think you're kind of a cute little thing." Before she could ask him if he was being a male pig or patronizer, he hit her with another question. "Where're you from?"

"District 12. The Panam Dis. 12 Amusement Park ny the Seem. It's the home of the most famous roller coaster in the South. Some say the whole country."

"I don't believe I knew that."

"Technically speaking, I guess maybe I'm not from the park any longer. The sheriff closed us down last week."

"I'm sorry to hear it." His sympathy seemed so genuine that she began to tell him a little bit about what had happened. Because he was so undemanding and he always seemed to give her the choice not to answer his gentle questions, she found herself forgetting about the other people in the room, forgetting about the lights and cameras. Crossing her legs in her lap, she rubbed her sore toes and told him everything. She spoke of Uncle Earl's death and the bank foreclosing on the park and land. Even about her mothers death. The only thing she didn't tell him about was Sophie's mental condition, because she didn't want him to know she had a crazy person in her family. After a while her toes stopped aching so bad, but when she began describing their trip across the country, her insides twisted up again.

"Did you see my sister?" she asked him. He nodded. "How could y'all only spend five minutes with her? How could anybody treat her like that? Don't you think she's beautiful?"

"Yeah, she's real pretty, all right. I can see why you're so proud of her."

"You bet I'm proud of her. She's pretty and sweet, and she came in here even though she was half scared to death."

"She looked like she was more than half scared, sweetheart. She wouldn't even sit in front of the camera. Not everybody is cut out for a career in television."

"She could do it," Katniss said stubbornly. "People can do anything they set their minds to."

"You've been going through life with your fists swinging for a long time, haven't you?"

"I do what I have to."

"Doesn't sound like you've had anybody looking after you."

"I look after myself. And I look after my family. I'm going to find us a house somewhere. A place where we can all be together. And we won't rely on welfare, or handouts either."

"That's good. Nobody likes taking handouts."

"I think keeping your family together's the most important thing in the world." Quiet fell between them. In the shadows beyond the lights, she saw an occasional movement. It was creepy having them watch her like this, not saying anything, just sitting there like a bunch of vultures.

"You ever cry, sweetheart?"

"Me? Hell, no."

"Why is that?"

"What good does crying do?"

"I'll bet you cried when you were a little kid."

"Only right after my mother died. From then on, whenever things got tough, I rode my roller coaster. I guess that's one of the best things about a ride like that."

"How's that?"

"A coaster gives you hope. You can pretty much ride a good one through the worst tragedy life throws at you. You can even ride it through somebody dying or being treated like crap, I guess." A noise distracted her. Beyond the cameras, she saw Peeta Mellark slap the metal doors with the flat of one hand and stalk out. The man sitting next to her shifted his weight.

"I'm going to ask you to do something for me, Katniss, and I don't think it'll be too hard. The way I look at it, these people here owe you a favor. You came all this way to see them, the least they can do is put you and your sister up at a fine hotel for a few nights. You'll have plenty to eat and people to wait on you, and they'll pay for everything." She eyed him suspiciously.

"These people here don't think I'm any better than a maggot on spoiled meat. Why would they pay for me and Prim to stay in some fancy hotel?"

"Because I'm gonna tell them they have to." His absolute certainty filled her with a combination of envy and adoration. Someday she wanted to be powerful like him, to have people do exactly what she said. She thought over his offer and couldn't see any obvious hitch. Besides, she didn't think she could manage the drive back to District 12 without some decent food and a night's sleep. Not to mention the fact that she'd just about run out of money.

"All right. I'll stay. But only until I decide I'm ready to go." He nodded and everybody began to move at once. There was a whispered conference in the back of the studio, and then the frazzled-looking assistant who had originally taken Prim o her audition came forward. After introducing herself as Maria, she told Katnissshe would help her get settled in a hotel. Maria pointed out some of the other people in the studio. The stern-faced woman was the casting director and Maria's boss. The man in the suit and tie with the silver hair was Snow, one of the producers. Maria led her to the studio doors. At the last minute, Katniss turned back to address the man who had rescued her.

"I'm not ignorant, you know. I recognized you the moment I set eyes on you. I know exactly who you are."

Haymitch Abernathy nodded. "I figured you did."

After Katniss left to head to the hotel, Snow turned to Haymitch.

"What do you think your doing Abernathy?"

"I just found us our star. Your welcome." He stormed off the audition set for the last time. He would be taking charge of this show from here on out.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGH

So... there is ch 4. 5 should be up by sat.


End file.
